We're the ones who live
by can08writer
Summary: Rick fears for Michonne's life during the fight against Negan. This is a one-shot of what could happen during the season 7 finale. It's a remix of the comic Andrea tower scene.
1. Chapter 1

"Michonne!" Rick howled.

He had been firing at one of Negan's men who was trying to make a quick getaway in one of Negan's cars, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a body plunge from the fifth floor window of the building that he knew Michonne had been sniping from. His blood ran cold.

She had been practicing her shooting skills, and with Sasha's guidance her accuracy had grown. She had volunteered to be one of the snipers who would be holding off Negan's men from afar, and protecting Alexandria's troops from above. Rick had been relieved when she volunteered to do it. It meant she was helping from the safest place possible. But he was wrong. Something had gone horribly wrong. And now, a body lay on the concrete in front of the building.

He was a block away and couldn't make out who it was, but he promptly turned and sprinted towards the building, forgetting the Savior he was firing at, and forgetting the battle around him. Bullets whizzed past his head as he ran, yells and screams sounded miles away. He couldn't feel his legs moving, it felt like he was floating as he got closer and closer to the crumpled heap of a person laying on the concrete.

"M…Michonne…" he uttered in a virtual whisper as he approached the body crushed on the sidewalk, blood running from its head into the gutter. The clothing was wrong, the hair was wrong. As he got closer relief flooded his soul. _It's not her._

"Michonne!" Rick screamed at the 5th story window. "Michonne! Come to the window!"

There was no response. No movement from the window, and her sniper rifle lay on the ground next to the dead body. Rick sprinted towards the door to the building which had been kicked in. He flew up the flights of stairs screaming Michonne's name, not caring who he was alerting to his presence. He couldn't get over the fact that there was no noise in the building. Everything was deathly silent.

 _She's not dead. She's ok. Maybe she's hiding. Maybe she… she has to be ok._

As Rick reached the top floor he raised his weapon. He entered the hallway that led from the staircase cautiously.

"Michonne?" he called again. Silence.

He moved down the hallway, nudging a half open door with his foot. The door swung open and bounced back when it hit something. Rick cautiously peeked around the door and saw one of Michonne's shoes. His heart dropped. He swung around and spotted her lying motionless, propped up against the wall behind the door. There were bloody drag marks on the floor, showing she had crawled there from the open window. She was bleeding heavily, Rick spotted an obvious stab wound in her arm, but there had to be others from the amount of blood she was losing. And even amidst her injuries, she had managed to hold on to her katana. It was gripped in her right hand.

"Oh my God. Michonne! Michonne!" Rick screamed, dropping to his knees in front of her. "Baby, can you hear me? Wake up!". When she didn't respond, Rick gently placed both hands on her face, cradling it.

"Come on sweetheart, open your eyes for me. Please baby."

When she didn't respond, Rick inched closer, wrapping his arms around her and holding her against his chest, her head cradled in his neck.

"Please, please, please" Rick begged, crying hysterically. He leaned over until his lips were close to her ear. "This isn't it for us" he whispered, "we're the ones who live."

He slid his arms under Michonne and lifted her gently from the floor, her head slumped against his chest. He was sure to hold on to her katana as well, as he carried her down the steps.

When he got to the bottom of the steps, he felt her head moving slowly against his chest as she regained consciousness.

"Michonne?" he whispered, relieved to see any movement from her.

"We're… the ones… who live" she repeated.


	2. Chapter 2: A talk with Andre

**_Author's note_** ** _: Chapter 1 was supposed to be a one-shot and it was written months ago, but I couldn't get the scenes below out of my head yesterday, it was just nagging me to write it. Maybe someone who reads this needs to hear it. I guess this chapter could've been a one-shot on its own, but I thought it fit well with the previous chapter. Anyway, enjoy and please review!_**

"Mama!" Andre yelled, leaping into Michonne's arms. Instinctively, Michonne caught the energetic little boy, but she stared down at the child wriggling in her arms in confusion. The little boy hugged her tightly, pressing his face into her chest so that she couldn't see him.

"Mama I've missed you sooo much. Did you miss me?" he asked, his face still hidden in her shirt.

"Andre?" Michonne asked, her voice barely a whisper. The boy didn't respond, nuzzling his head into her chest and holding her tighter.

"Andre?" Michonne asked again. When there was no response, Michonne pushed the child off of her and backed away. The child looked at her and she could finally see his face. It was Andre. Except the age he would be if he were still alive. His brown eyes widened in shock from her pushing him away.

"Mama it's me" Andre said, "don't you remember me?"

"Andre?" Michonne asked a third time, her voice getting high pitched. "How are you here? How are you… oh my God. Andre baby, how are you here?"

"Mama I've missed you. I've been watching you. Me and daddy. I would talk to you sometimes but you couldn't hear me."

"You watched me?" Michonne whispered. "How? Andre… Andre am I… Am I dead?"

"You're not dead mama" Andre said, taking a step forward. "You're not dead. I just wanted you to see me. I wanted you to hear me."

Michonne knelt so she was eye level with her son. She looked into his large brown eyes again and saw her own. He was older than the Andre she remembered, who was just a baby when he died. He was the Andre that would never be.

"Oh Andre. My baby boy. My little peanut" Michonne reached out for him and pulled him to her, resting her forehead on his as her hands cupped his face. "Andre, of course I missed you. I missed you every day. I thought of you every day." She sobbed as she held her son tightly, waves of grief, relief, joy, and sadness washing over her.

"Andre I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry baby. I couldn't save you. I couldn't save you. I left you. I'm so sorry Andre, please forgive me for not being there" Michonne sobbed into his shoulder.

"It's okay Mama. It's okay" Andre said, wiping away the tears streaming from Michonne's eyes. "I know you thought about me. I told you I was watching you. I know you were sad 'cuz you thought I wasn't with you anymore, but I was. I saw you when you were sad, and I felt bad 'cuz you were all alone. I know you tried to keep daddy and Uncle Terry with you, but it wasn't them."

Michonne's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened in horror and embarrassment that Andre saw her drag his father's corpse around. "It's okay Mama. We understood, me and daddy."

Michonne was speechless. All she could do was stare into her son's eyes. The eyes that she had begged God to see again, the child that she had tried to kill herself to rejoin. He said he was watching her. Did he see that attempt as well?

As if he knew what she was thinking, Andre nodded. "I know you tried to come to me Mama, but I stopped you. It wasn't time for you to come with me and daddy. When you tried to stay under the water, I pulled you out. You didn't know it was me. And I know you were gonna try again, but then you met Andrea, and being friends with her stopped you."

Andre's words broke Michonne, and she collapsed to her hands and knees, weeping hysterically. "I'm so sorry" she repeated over, and over again as she sobbed.

"Mama it's okay to let me go now. I was worried for you 'cuz you were all alone, but you're not alone anymore. You have nice people who love you. And I know you love them too. That's all I wanted you to have, that's why I stayed to watch over you. I know I can go now."

"You stayed to watch me?" Michonne asked, still in shock from the conversation she was having with her dead son.

"It's okay for you to love them. I want you to love them and be happy Mama. You've been sad for a long time, I don't want you to be sad because of me."

"Andre, I… I don't want you to think I've forgotten about you. You're my first baby boy. My special boy. I prayed to God for you. I promised him I would protect you and take care of you if he gave you to me, and I didn't. I didn't protect you and now you're… now you're not here with me and I ache for you every day Andre. I'm so sorry you're not here. I didn't protect you. I…"

"It wasn't your fault Mama. You don't have to feel bad anymore. I don't want you to. I didn't want daddy to feel bad either. I asked to talk to you because I didn't want you to feel like this. That little girl, she needs you. I want you to love her, just like you loved me. Her Mama is here too. She can see how you take care of her, she wanted me to tell you that she thinks you do a good job."

"Lori can see me too?" Michonne asked.

"I can't stay here long. I have to go soon. I just wanted to say goodbye and I love you Mama. Don't be sad anymore okay? Be happy."

Michonne let out a high-pitched sob and pulled Andre to her again, wrapping around him tightly. "Please don't leave, Andre" she begged, "I want to stay with you. I want to be with you."

"You don't belong here now Mama, not yet." Andre threaded his hands through Michonne's hair, latching on to her one loc in the front, on the left side. The same loc he had latched on to from the day he was born. He would always fall asleep holding on to that one loc, sometimes he would hold it so tightly she couldn't put him down.

"Is this real, Andre?" Michonne asked, "am I really talking to you? Or is this a dream?"

Andre didn't answer her. Still holding on to that one loc, he planted a kiss on her cheek. "I love you Mama, I have to go now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

Michonne gradually realized she was laying down on her back. She could hear the soft sound of someone breathing heavily nearby, and footsteps moving around in a nearby room. There was a heavy weight on her chest, she could feel it going up and down each time she moved. It wasn't heavy enough to stop her from breathing, but it was warm and pressing down on her firmly. She felt a familiar pressure on her hair, especially the front left loc. Someone was holding on to it.

"Andre" Michonne murmured, her eyes still closed. "Andre… is that… you" she mumbled. For some reason it was hard for her to speak.

The soft breathing in the room suddenly stopped, and she heard a shuffle of movement and a short scrape as a chair was moved closer to her.

"Michonne" she heard Rick say. Michonne moved her head in the direction of his voice. She tried to open her eyes but they felt heavy. It was a struggle to move her eyelids.

"Take it easy baby, take it easy" Rick said, seeing that she was struggling to move. She managed to open one of her eyes, but the other was glued shut with crust and dried tears. Everything was blurry, but she tried to focus on Rick's face.

"That's it baby. Hi, welcome back. I'm so glad you're awake" Rick said, relief radiating from his voice.

"What… happened?" Michonne breathed out.

"You were in a fight with one of the Saviors, you… you got stabbed, lost a lot of blood. Dr. Carson from Hilltop came all the way over here to do surgery on you. You were stabbed 12 times. We almost lost you."

Michonne didn't remember any of it. "How… long?" she whispered.

"It's been two weeks honey. After the surgery, you were unconscious for a long time. You're still healing. But I'm so glad you're awake right now. I've missed you so much" Rick said, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"My… chest?" Michonne asked. She could still feel a pressure on her chest but she couldn't move her head enough to look down.

"Your chest?" Rick asked in confusion. He then looked down at her chest, and back up at her face and smiled.

"Oh, that's just Judy" he said, stroking her hair. "She wanted me to read you a story while you were sleeping, and she fell asleep on you."

Michonne strained herself to turn her head so that she could look down. She saw blond hair out of her peripheral vision. Her movement caused Judy to stir, and she held on to Michonne's loc more tightly, just like Andre used to. The corner of Michonne's mouth twitched up slightly in a small smile.

"You want me to pick her up?" Rick asked, "is she hurting you?"

"No" Michonne said, her heart feeling lighter than it had ever felt since the apocalypse. "She's… where… she belongs."


End file.
